Starting over
by FreyaDK
Summary: Caroline and her mom moves to Mystic Falls to start over. But how do you do that? And who is that boy with the curly blond hair? M in later chapters. All human
1. Chapter 1

AN: Okay, here we go. This is my first try at a "real" fanfic. Sadly I don't have much time to write at the moment, but I will try to upload the next chapter as soon as it's finished. Happy reading!

* * *

Being 17 is difficult. You have to figure out who you are, what you want to be and where you want to be it. At the same time you have to deal with being seen as a child when you want to go party, and as an almost adult when it comes to laundry and chores. Oh, and then there's the thing about love. "The teenage years are the best! Enjoy High Scool!" Yeah right. People saying things like that probably forgot how it really was. Now, if you combine all that and add the nervousness of having to start your senior year at a new school, you're pretty close to how Caroline felt. And of course it was Monday too. She and her mom just moved to Mystic Falls this weekend after her parents got divorced. After 18 years of marriage Caroline's dad had apparently decided to announce he was gay and had a boyfriend. Liz knew of course. But Caroline still had a hard time accepting it. Walking down the stairs she could hear her mom talking on the phone.

"Yes, it's her first day today. I know… Sure, I will. Bye."

"Who was that?"

"Oh, good morning dear. That was your dad. He said hi."

The pleading look in her mother's eyes made Caroline sigh.

"Okay. Thanks."

"Sweetie, please don't… Today is a new beginning. We should start this part of our lives being happy, don't you think?"

"Sure mom. I'm all happy, see?" She put on her happy face. The one even her mother couldn't quite see through. Liz smiled. "It'll be fine. I can't wait to hear about your first day."

"Uh, mom, shouldn't you be at the cake factory?" Liz looked at the watch hanging on the kitchen wall. "Oh my..! Here's your lunch, I really have to go. Love you!"

As Caroline watched her mom run out the door, she decided to make the best of it all. She found a jacket and her bag and started to walk to school.

* * *

The halls of Mystic Falls High School were crowded with teenagers still trying to wake up. Caroline found an office and knocked on the door.

"Excuse me, but I'm new here and… where should I go?"

Mrs. Clarke looked up from her desk and smiled.

"You must be Caroline Forbes, right? Please, come in."

Caroline got a lot of papers while the halls cleared. Then Mrs. Clarke followed her to class.

"It's in there dear. Welcome. I'm sure you'll feel at home very soon."

"Thank you." Caroline felt very nervous as she saw the woman walk away. The sound of a man talking came from behind the door.

"Okay, you can do this." She took a deep breath and knocked on the door twice. Silence. Two seconds later the door opened and revealed a man looking to be around 30 years old. He looked at her questioningly.

"Uhm… Hi..? I'm Caroline…"

The man smiled and waved at her to come in. "Welcome Caroline. I'm Alaric Saltzman." He turned towards the class. "Everybody, this is Caroline. She'll be finishing the year with you guys, so be nice!"

The girls started whispering and a few of the boys smiled at her. And then there was the guy with curly blond hair in the back. He didn't even look up from the paper he was furiously drawing on.

"You can sit next to Stefan. He started a few months ago." Alaric said and pointed to a boy with green eyes and dark hair. He smiled politely and moved a book so Caroline had room for her things.

"Thanks" she whispered and sat next to him. As she listened to Mr. Saltzman talk about Odin and Thor, she noticed Stefan kept glancing towards a girl on the front row. She had very long dark hair, and she would look back once in a while, when Stefan wasn't looking.

"I think she likes you too." Caroline whispered to Stefan. He looked at her with red cheeks. "Who?" "You know who." He smiled a shy smile and looked back to his book. "Maybe." Caroline laughed quitly and looked up to see the girl look at them confused. Caroline shook her head and mouthed "_no, just talking. He likes you"._ The girl looked down and smiled, then mouthed "_thanks_."

When the bell sounded, Alaric tried to yell his final words before the class disappeared through the door. The girl with brown hair and a dark girl walked over to Caroline, when Stefan left with a couple of guys.

"Hi. I'm Elena, and this is Bonnie. Do you want to eat lunch with us? We could show you around too."

"Yeah. Thanks. That'd be awesome." Caroline smiled and walked out with the girls. Before she closed the door, she saw the curly haired boy was still sitting in the back. "What about him?"

Elena looked back in. "Oh, that's Klaus. Just leave him alone. He doesn't talk much." Caroline felt bad for him, but followed the girls outside.

They sat under a tree and talked while they ate. Caroline asked Elena about Stefan, and her whole face got red. After a while Bonnie asked Caroline "why did you move?" "My parents got divorced…" she looked down and suddenly lost her appetite. "Oh." Bonnie said, and looked to Elena for help. "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it. But if you do, we're right here, okay?" Caroline felt Elena's hand on her arm and smiled sadly. "Thanks. That's good to know" After a long silence, Bonnie sat up straight. "You know what? I had a strange dream. This time it was about Matt. I should tell him." "Yeah, you do that. We'll see you in class in five." Bonnie left and Elena looked to Caroline trying not to smile too much. "She's… Well, she thinks she's psychic. And sometimes she's right, but… just go with it, okay? She's a nice person." Caroline nodded. "Sure." As they walked back inside, Caroline saw the boy with the blond curls stand alone next to a bin while he ate. It seemed as if he was invisible to everyone else.

* * *

After class the girls said goodbye, and Caroline started to walk home. She had only left the school grounds when a boy ran after her.

"Hey! Wait!" She stopped and turned to look at him. "Me?" He stopped next to her with a wry smile on his face. "Yeah, you. I just wanted to invite you to a party tomorrow. At my house. My parents go away for the weekend, so… you wanna come?" "Uh, okay. But.." "I'm Tyler. Ask Elena and Bonnie, they know where it is. Got to go!" He ran back to the school as Caroline stood there not sure what she just got herself into. She wrote a message to Elena as she walked home. *Hey. Do you know a Tyler? He just asked us to come to his house tomorrow to party. C* A few minutes later she got a message back. *I know him. We can go, but be careful. He invites all kinds of people. See you tomorrow. E* Caroline felt kind of excited already.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: I'd like to know who you'd like to see in this story. Personally I miss Anna a lot! Should I bring her in? Also, I apologise for my English. I'm not a native speaker, so if you find flaws I'm sorry. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

"Come on…." Elena was trying really hard to make her brain work for just a few more minutes, but the noise in the classroom made it pretty much impossible.

"Okay everyone, let's call it a day. Remember to read for Monday!"

"Yeah right…" Bonnie said to the two other girls, as people went out the door.

"Seriously? You have to read!" Elena looked at Bonnie like she was insane.

"Sure, but this? I didn't even get the first three words, how am I supposed to read a whole chapter?"

"French is not that bad. You have to at least try."

"Okay! Now, can we talk about tonight?" Caroline had been excited all day.

"Relax Caroline, it's just a party." Elena laughed at her party-craving friend.

"Nah, not just a party. It's THE party!" Tyler looked at Caroline just before he went out the door. "Can't wait to see you there." He said with a smirk.

The color in Caroline's cheeks suddenly changed.

* * *

"Hey Jenna! We're here!"

"Hey girls! And Caroline! It's so nice to finally meet you."

Caroline had just walked inside when Jenna hugged her.

"Oh. Hi. Uhm, nice to meet you too Miss…"

"No way, I'm Jenna. Forget the Miss. Please, it makes me feel so old."

Elena laughed. "Come on, let's go upstairs."

"You have fun. I'll get the pizzas soon. Have you heard from Jeremy?"

The girls looked at each other.

"No." Elena said and looked worried.

"Hmm. He'll probably show up soon" Jenna said and smiled. "Come on girls, you have a lot of hair to do!"

* * *

"Pizza's here!" Jenna yelled.

"I'm starving!" Bonnie said and hurried down the stairs with the two other girls after her. They had curled their hair and Bonnie was now wearing a green dress. Elena had black jeans and a dark blue top on while Caroline was wearing a short red dress.

"Wow! You're beautiful!" Jenna said and followed the girls to the kitchen.

While they ate in the kitchen Jenna looked at Elena. "Ready for the Aunt-talk?"

Elena smiled. "Sure. Bring it on."

"Okay. Don't get too drunk, stay together and if you absolutely have to have sex, please use a condom?"

"Oh my God Jenna! Thanks, but you really don't have to worry."

Bonnie and Caroline started to laugh, and soon after Elena and Jenna joined them. They stopped immediately when Jeremy walked in with a black eye and blood on his shirt.

"Jeremy!" Elena ran to him. "What happened?"

Jenna took his hand and looked at his bloody knuckles. "Who did this?"

Jeremy looked to the floor. "They were going to beat him up. I had to do something." He mumbled.

Elena touched his hair in a loving way.

"Who Jeremy?"

He looked at her and laughed without humor. "What does it matter? I'm fine, just have to wash up." He ran up the stairs and smacked the door.

Jenna looked to the girls confused. "You should probably get going. It's late. I'll take care of him."

Elena looked sad. "Hey, we can stay here if you want?" Caroline put an arm around Elena. She looked at her aunt.

"It's okay Elena. Go have fun, I'll talk to him when he's calmed down."

Elena nodded and took her purse being used to seeing Jeremy in trouble.

* * *

The Lockwood mansion was normally a very quiet place. Mr. Lockwood was the school principal and also Tyler's dad. When the girls arrived it was quite obvious a party was going on. First of all they could hear the music from far away. Then there was the loud talking and drunk guys out front. And on top of that the almost naked girl running past them laughing with two guys after her.

"Are you sure we should do this?" Bonnie asked.

"Absolutely." said Caroline and walked right up to the doors. She smiled at the guys and walked inside with Bonnie and Elena trying to keep up with her. Inside the music was even louder, she could feel the bass as she walked around trying to find something to drink.

"Hey! You came!" Tyler waved to her with a beer in his hand. Caroline smiled while Elena had started talking with Stefan. Bonnie looked like she would much rather have stayed at home.

A few hours later a lot had changed. Bonnie was now sitting between Stefan's older brother Damon, who had his tongue down a blond girl's throat, and Matt who was staring at Elena looking sad. Stefan had finally asked her to dance with him, and he seemed to not want to let her go any time soon. Caroline was dancing with Tyler, who tried to make his way up the stairs with her, but every time he got close, she would turn them around.

"We should go up and talk instead." he whispered to her. Caroline shook her head. "No… I promised Elena and Bonnie I'd stay close." Tyler looked a little frustrated but smiled a crooked smile. "They'll be fine. Come on…" He took her hand and tried to tug her towards the stairs. Suddenly there was shouting and people cheering. Two guys were fighting on the floor with glass splinters all over.

"Caroline!" Bonnie was holding her other hand. "We have to go, remember? We promised Jenna to bring Elena back." Caroline looked at Bonnie confused. "What?" Bonnie sighed. "Remember?" she tried again looking at Caroline intently. "Oh! Yeah, I totally forgot! Sorry Tyler, I have to go. Thanks for inviting us." He looked at her disappointed before he went over to the guys on the floor and started cheering.

Bonnie managed to grab Elena on the way out while Stefan went to the kitchen. "What's going on Bonnie?" Elena was on a happy cloud. "I just have a feeling. Let's go." They started walking away from the Mansion when they heard the sound of sirens. Shortly after two police cars drove past them only to stop at the doors before two officers went inside.

"Wow. Thanks Bonnie." Caroline said looking nervous.

"What about Stefan?" Elena said about to go back.

"He'll be fine he didn't have anything to do with it. Come on. Let's go home."

Caroline hugged them both. "I'll just go through the park. It's a detour for you guys."

"Are you sure?" Elena asked.

"Absolutely. I'm a strong woman!" she said pretending to be a ninja.

"Oookay Caroline, go home! But message me when you're home safe."

"Okay" She waved to the girls as they walked around the corner. On her way home she suddenly felt alone. It was really dark in the park and she could hear voices from two men standing further ahead of her. She would have to walk past them to go home, so she tried walking faster.

"Hey gorgeous! Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Yeah, come say hello!"

She ignored them and just walked on when one of them grabbed her arm.

"Hey! I asked you something. It's not polite to ignore a question!"

"It's also not polite to grab a girl like that." An angry voice said.

Caroline looked behind her to see a guy with curly hair look at the man grabbing her arm like he wanted to rib his throat out.

"Hey man, relax. It's just for fun."

Klaus walked close to Caroline and put an arm around her. "I don't see her laughing." Without any words he pulled her with him back to the dirt path and walked away from the men. When they were outside the park he stopped and pulled his arm away to take her hand instead. "Are you okay?"

She looked at him shocked and nodded. "Thank you…"

"You should go home. This is not a safe place at night." He let go of her hand and looked away.

She looked at him for the first time in the light from a streetlamp and saw blood on his shirt. She reached out a hand to touch it but he cringed back.

"What happened?" she asked worried and looked at him.

"Nothing. Go home Caroline. Please be more careful." He looked at her with a sudden anger that made her take a step back. He walked past her in a hurry and rounded the corner. She ran the rest of the way home and locked the door.

When she got to her room she took her phone and wrote to Elena. *I'm home safe. Night* As she pressed send she realized she would have to thank Klaus for that. As she took off her dress she noticed the small amount of blood on it where Klaus had held her and shuddered wondering if it was his own blood or someone else's.


End file.
